Mark Moon, general manager of place and neighbourhoods for Wokingham Borough Council

Sign up to FREE email alerts from BerkshireLive - daily

When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Referring to Mr Payne’s death, he said: “While it is not at this stage established whether or not the presence of a barrier would have avoided this fatality, the council has been trying to secure the funding needed to extend the existing barrier system on the A329M.

“Sadly, we hadn’t been able to progress this work any sooner as our bids to central Government for money to install crash barriers were unsuccessful both in 2007 and 2008.

“It is estimated that it would cost in the region of £4 million to install safety barriers on the full length of this road, which is why we had to apply to the Government in the hope that they would make the funding a priority.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t, which meant that we had to return to the financial drawing board.

“We have since been able to allocate the £650,000 needed to install barriers on the stretch of the A329M at its junction by the M4 – this work is due to start later this month.

“However, I have to say that these barriers are not guarantees against death and it is not possible to say that had they been in place they would have prevented Mr Payne’s death.

“Indeed, it is difficult to conclude that any driver would be safe from serious injury or fatality due solely to the provision of these barriers. But we hope that they will help safeguard drivers as much as possible in the future.”